Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design

With the increase in shootings on school campuses in the last few weeks, many school administrators are scrambling to figure out what to do. We have always suggested starting with audits. Audits are a great way to determine where you need to focus your effort. They are the gap analysis or needs assessment tool of choice.

There is a ton of information available on the web in relations to CPTED audits, much of which explains what they are, what to look for and how to write reports. Unfortunately, what they don’t tell you is that you need a trained eye if you really want to see how it all fits together. Just as was explained in the book “Blink”, an expert can see how things fit without consciously thinking about it. They know that there are issues immediately and can then put it in writing.

I would always suggest that you take a shot at conducting a CPTED if you can’t afford to hire an expert, but realize that you may be missing more than meets the eye.